Study Shows Taking Mental Health Medication Is Incredibly Common

If you take medication for a mental health issue, you’re in good company.  Approximately one in six Americans has taken a prescribed psychiatric drug such as antidepressants at least once, according to a new study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.  Researchers from the Institute of Safe Medication Practices analyzed public government data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which measures details related to the use of health care and health insurance coverage. They found 16.7 percent of 242 million U.S. adults reported filling one or more psychiatric drug prescriptions in 2013, the most recent year of collected information. The authors discovered 12 percent of people reported taking antidepressants. Just over 8 percent took anxiety drugs, sedatives or sleeping pills and 1.6 percent took antipsychotic medication, which is most commonly used for conditions like schizophrenia. They also broke the data down by groups, revealing significant differences by race and ethnicity.  “Large differences were found in race [and] ethnicity, with 20.8 percent of white adults reporting use versus 8.7 percent of Hispanic adults,” the authors wrote, also stating that about 9 percent of African-American adults reported taking at least one psychiatric medication. Although the researchers didn’t investigate why this disparity exists, previous research shows minorities often receive inferior mental health treatment compared with white...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news